HELP with BEST Anti Virus suite for most all around trojans and viruses

I am having all kinds of problems with my computer. I know it is chocked full of trojans, viruses, and malware.... hell... I can't even get on the damn Internet at home anymore.

I am going to be doing a clean install in the very near future and wanted some help in finding the ultimate Anti Virus suite. I have Norton AntiVirus 2003 but it doesn't catch **** in the way of common Internet trojans. What should I be upgrading to? I am tired of spending more time fixing and servicing my computer than actually using the damn thing. It is really pissing me off. Please help!

 

Can't say there is any that can really be termed ultimate, but for the larger wider range of malware, you should head your way to a KAV-based AV, like well KAV itself, F-Secure, AVK.

 

I know avast! can pick majority of trojans with its very good generic detection (it can also take care for normal viruses/worms). At least from my own experience when i was cleaning friends PCs...

 

and McAfee.

 

and Norman Virus Control.

 

There is only one solution to all your problems: the power switch. Yes, turn it off and
you'll be secure as long as it retains its state. Seriously speaking, you must learn the
basics of safe-browsing before you go out to purchase the next great revolutionary
technology to counter viruses and trojans. The best antivirus resides between your eyes.
Use it!

IMHO, loading the PC with a bundle of resource hungry security applications is overkill.
Get yourself a decent firewall, like Kerio 2.x, Look 'n' Stop or Sygate, and couple it
with a nice spyware blocker/blaster. You must also learn to use your browser safely.
Disable dangerous ActiveX and Java/JS options, and tighten the overall security level.

Then you can think about getting a nice and lightweight antivirus and an antitrojan
to couple it with. IMO, F-Prot for Windows/Command AntiVirus or KAV/NOD will provide
enought peace of mind when used with BOClean/TDS or TrojanHunter.

Such a layered security system will keep your system healthy and free from the hefty
memory requirements of the types of alleged "Security Suites".

Regards,
AgentX

 

You can download the DOS component of NOD32 at www.nod32.com. This is small enough to fit on a floppy, IIRC. Download the "DOS version" on the free trials page.

F-Prot for DOS might be able to fit on a floppy too, I forget.

Note that if an expert says otherwise, trust them, not me! They know what they are ralking about!

 

i support AgentX on his suggestions. would like to add that a freeware firewall is enough protection so you can go for Kerio which is the best or maybe Sygate or Zonealarm. all of these are freewares. layered security is good but will cost you some extra bucks for that AT. otherwise investing on KAV is a good bet as it has the best detection rate of malwares. you can also add another AV as a backup solution. Spybot and SpywareBlaster are good and free spyware detectors. if you want to use an AT then go for either TDS-3 or BOClean. but in the end it depends on your habits and common sense.

 

you are very modest Pigman. nice to see you again. can you teach me to be modest?

 

Try one of these:

G DATA AVK Pro (double-engine: uses KAV+BitDefender)
eXtendia AVK Pro (double-engine: uses KAV+RAV)
F-Secure (supposed to be double-engine: KAV+?)

These antivirus programs will give you a good all-round protection from virii, worms, trojans and other malware.

If you think those double-engine antivirus programs might be a bit too much for your computer to handle, try Kaspersky or McAfee (like tazdevl suggested).

About Avast!, it's probably a very good antivirus product, but you should note that it failed the latest Virus Bulletin test (although it could have been nothing more than a false positive). Plus, if you look at the latest test performed at www.av-comparatives.org you will see that it "only" had a detection rate of 11% when it came to trojans. No offense to RejZoR, but there are better all-around solutions...

 

OK, here it goes again...

Actually it was a missed sample of the LoveLorn virus embedded in HTML which is by itself completely benign. Upon extraction from HTML to binary format, the sample is of course detected.

More info: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=4893

This is a test with an old virus database to see how the scanners are able to cover yet-unknown stuff. OK, I admit, avast does require frequent virus DB updates -- but that's why it has a very reliable and low-footprint updater.

More info on the test (including post by A. Clementi, the author of the test): http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=4979



Hope this helps,
Vlk

 

Hehe Vlk,thats exactly what i'm trying to say all the time

 

dear Kjempen, F-Secure is a triple engine product. it uses in-house Orion engine which is now available for Windows 9x too, and Libra engine alongwith the good old AVP engine. anyway in this Lovelorn case we can't say its a false alarm. its just like being unable to detect a virus in archive. though it'll be detected on decompression but most of the AV users want their paid softwares to tell things in advance. in this case i support Kjempen as there are better softwares.

 

While we're at it, it's true that F-Secure ships with three engines technology.
However, I could find only a few small files in the F-Secure installation directories
which could be related to Orion or Libra engines. Most likey, these two engines do
not support signature based detection, but ony the additional heuristics designed to
aid the mostly signature based KAV engine. I may be wrong, but this is all I found
during my evaluation of F-Secure Client Security 5.52.

Regards,
AgentX

 

good observation AgentX, yes you are right. the Orion scanning engine is all about heuristics. the Libra scanning engine is not, as its a spin-off of the F-Prot scanning engine. but don't think it lacks heuristics. also i'd like to point out that AVP doesn't lack any heuristics points. its database is so huge that people mistake it for signature-only-weak-heuristics engine. also keep in mind that the rulesets are updated regularly for AVP.

 

@vlk:

Thanks for the links you provided. I see now that I was mistaken about Avast! "failing" the latest Virus Bulletin test (too bad, like it was mentioned in the threads at the Avast! forums, you only get to see a "pass"/"fail" and not the details). But still, if one wants a product that takes care of most malware, I still don't think Avast! is the best choice. Although Avast! + something like Trojan Defence Suite would probably be a very good combo. ("Layered protection" I believe they call it.)

@AMRX:

Thanks for your info on F-Secure. I didn't really know that it was a triple engine product.

 

avast! is increasing Trojan detection capability with generic methods latelly and it seems to be very effective.

 

What the heck! May as well throw in my opinion.

TDS for sure, no doubt of that at all, as a *dedicated* AT.
KAV for other AV [extremely good overall]
WormGuard [from authors of TDS]
ProcessGuard [same authors of TDS] to protect ALL Processes from termination. Nothing can close down any critical services like your AT/AV/Critical System Processes, etc.

Freebies: ALL of Javacool's tools: SpywareBlaster, SpywareGuard, etc.
Kerio 2.1.5 FW
AdAware
Spybot S&D
IESpyad
RegProt

TAS